My predictions

[Fiel]

Looking at all of the recent KMST patches, there are some changes that they're making which make a lot of sense. Not only are they fixing many of the disjointed corners of their own accuracy system, but they're also fully utilizing a lot of what recoding Maplestory gives them. Remember that doing a full recode of the game is a very risky tactic for a business. Some businesses (namely Duke Nukem Forever and Netscape) recode and totally fail. Since Nexon's recoding was very successful, they want to get the most out of their engine. Also, as a shameless plug, many of my previous desires. Why not keep hoping?

So, here are some of my predictions on what will be happening for the future:

- Percentage based scrolls: Of course, these scrolls would be heavily dependent on what stats you have on your current items. Even 10%/60%/100% giving 3%/2%/1% would be pretty good. Nexon already has the means to implement such a scroll. Oh, and while they're at it, they might as well change the chaos scroll to also affect percentage based equips.

- More stats on items: The biggest thing limiting stats on items was the screen's vertical size. This is why, at the current moment, on critical rings the stats move to a second window horizontally rather than expand vertically. It's obvious Nexon wants to use as much of the screen real estate as they can with the new resolution (bigger mobs in Chryse, Lionheart Castle's boss, Mechanic's ultimate skill). I'd like to predict an item that outclasses the CZHelm. And due to the "more stats" thing, I'm also predicting more sets. A lot more.

- Revamp of ALL ITEMS: Yeah, this one is going to suck, but it's something they have to do. Seriously... 5 ACC from an overall? That'd be a big deal in pre-BB days, but the system is now antiquated. They're going to have to increase ACC, MHP (+100 HP from pig headband is now lol). Of course, this is going to make a lot of people angry, but it simply must be done. The current base stats on items are too weak.

- Revamp of Maker: The stats here are too weak considering the investment put in and the comparative benefit of scrolls.

[Malthe]

Question: They upped the effect of accuracy, defence, hp and so on by around 10 times?
Couldnt they just increase the amount of HP, def etc on existing items by 10(given that's the number)?
I'm a noob at these sort of things, so just a question.

[Ryukiroku]

I'd say most of these predictions are pretty safe to bet on. I think they should've just got rid of fixed stat HP scrolls in favor for % based ones anyways.

As for Maker... that's coming for sure. I think they'll bide their time on this one until they release higher leveled equips though.

[Suber]

I would also love for them to do percentage scrolls too. It would somewhat balance out the game. For everyone who can cube like crazy.But i don't think they will, cubes alone bring in a lot of income.

[Seanny]

I'd prefer a combination of % AND raw HP to keep it useful for all classes. 10% a scroll, for example would serve warriors well. but ranged ones not so much. 10% plus a 75 raw hp per scroll however would pay off very well for both.

[Kire]

I would also love for them to do percentage scrolls too. It would somewhat balance out the game. For everyone who can cube like crazy.But i don't think they will, cubes alone bring in a lot of income.

I don't thinkso, maybe they'll make those scrols incredibly rare, or, if they add that kind of feature to the maker system, however, it'll be incredibly hard to get the necesary materials to make such an item... a lot of games have that kind of option...and those games make some kind of profit with that, by adding some kind of bonus probability if you use a purchased item... maybe they'll try something like that once the cashcow of the cubes runs dry...

[SaptaZapta]

- Revamp of Maker: The stats here are too weak considering the investment put in and the comparative benefit of scrolls.

I believe the lack of change to Maker can be considered an oversight, and of course it must be changed. Along with potions and skill buffs.

If you look at other stats, such as attack or jump, a Maker gem gives about as much as a scroll (with basic, intermediate, advanced roughly corresponding to 100%, 60%, and 10%), and a potion or buff gives 5-10 times a scroll's boost but for a limited time. Increasing scroll effects for some stats, while leaving Maker gems, potions, and buffs unchanged, is inconsistent and must be fixed.

I also agree about having to increase those stats on items, including existing items. Consider Maple weapons, with extra accuracy. If a Rohen continues to have just 35 accuracy, it's not nearly as attractive as it used to be. And if new Rohens drop with 350 acc while old ones languish with 35, that's totally unfair.
While it's impossible to know which scrolls landed on an item, if any, it would be reasonable to globally increase these stats by the same factor scrolls were boosted by.

[Takebacker]

They could include a revamp of maker with some kind of new alchemist town. Or just make a black mage release and have an alchemist boom in magatia.

[Devil]

Nexon will only "expand" Maplestory now if they can make good money out of it, 2x exp / cubing was only the first step...

Big Bang was only made to enable Nexon to create a totally new economy, and get rid of all the old shiet players like me worked on for years... all my equips are worthless and near useless now...

I can see them making tokens to do more then 1 bossrun per day for farming epic items in the (near?) future... items with uber good stats, and which are untradable (to keep them reaching the market for nx-less players, to keep their damage nerfed).

This is why Maplestory is going to fail really hard in the future for casual gamers. Lately Maple is already way too dependent on large investments from addicted players.

Normal players who only spend like 30~60 dollars in total on a game (like any other pay to play game) are gonna be kicked so hard away from the fun from maple (you have to pay a lot more for more fun). Also, they will quit sooner now, and there will be a lot of new players that will stop with Maple on their lvl120 Cygnus, because they've seen Maple already, and don't plan to invest 1000+ dollars or more to "compete" with the nx whores / hackers and pay another 500 dollars on 2x exp cards 'n stuff to get to lvl200 on their new adventurer...

Maplestory's future isn't that bright if you ask me, it's either pay -hard- cash and compete with the other nx whores, or don't, but do totally crap damage compared to the addicts with their 500% equips...

Maplestory from years ago (when it started), was -way- more casual gamer friendly, because then everyone could compete with each other, regardless NX "investments".

In the end there will be only hackers and nx whores competing for most damage, and then, after some time, nexon will bring it all down, to start another game where the nx whores and hackers will compete again...

Sadly, the old innocent friendly days are gone for good... Nexon broke their promise that NX would never influence gameplay... And don't expect them to nerf the NX Children Casino effect on gameplay, it's a goldmine for 8~14 year old addicts who go shopping with their parents credit cards to gain respect from other nx-addicts... It's their new business model, legal or not... it earns hard cash...

[Rob]

Nexon will only "expand" Maplestory now if they can make good money out of it, 2x exp / cubing was only the first step...

Big Bang was only made to enable Nexon to create a totally new economy, and get rid of all the old shiet players like me worked on for years... all my equips are worthless and near useless now...

I can see them making tokens to do more then 1 bossrun per day for farming epic items in the (near?) future... items with uber good stats, and which are untradable (to keep them reaching the market for nx-less players, to keep their damage nerfed).

This is why Maplestory is going to fail really hard in the future for casual gamers. Lately Maple is already way too dependent on large investments from addicted players.

Normal players who only spend like 30~60 dollars in total on a game (like any other pay to play game) are gonna be kicked so hard away from the fun from maple (you have to pay a lot more for more fun). Also, they will quit sooner now, and there will be a lot of new players that will stop with Maple on their lvl120 Cygnus, because they've seen Maple already, and don't plan to invest 1000+ dollars or more to "compete" with the nx whores / hackers and pay another 500 dollars on 2x exp cards 'n stuff to get to lvl200 on their new adventurer...

Maplestory's future isn't that bright if you ask me, it's either pay -hard- cash and compete with the other nx whores, or don't, but do totally crap damage compared to the addicts with their 500% equips...

Maplestory from years ago (when it started), was -way- more casual gamer friendly, because then everyone could compete with each other, regardless NX "investments".

In the end there will be only hackers and nx whores competing for most damage, and then, after some time, nexon will bring it all down, to start another game where the nx whores and hackers will compete again...

Sadly, the old innocent friendly days are gone for good... Nexon broke their promise that NX would never influence gameplay... And don't expect them to nerf the NX Children Casino effect on gameplay, it's a goldmine for 8~14 year old addicts who go shopping with their parents credit cards to gain respect from other nx-addicts... It's their new business model, legal or not... it earns hard cash...

Devil never fails to deliver.

Have you played a character from scratch recently? As if it was your first one? MapleStory is really easy for casuals to get into these days.

If you do a little check up on this site's blogs, SaptaZapta made a character from scratch just for fun and concluded that MapleStory is a really easy game. You can go up to level 55~60 just doing quests. How is that unappealing to casuals?

And for you just pulling a Nexon's master plan to get richer and richer and richer (because that's all you base your arguments around always, like ''WOW NX HEAVY ONLY GAEM MUST BE TAKEN DOWN MONEY IS BEING TAKEN FROM ME) you're just being off... again.

[Index]

To go along with an item revamp and percent scrolls, I actually want a potential system nerf. 12% to all stats or 30% on bosses just seems too strong. If it wasn't for all of the money already used for cubes, I wouldn't mind if they cut all benefits to a third of their former size. You know, balance.

[Herborist]

BB will move Maplestory toward a more casual oriented game. I'm going to be starting over once it hits to test this out and I have high hopes (100+ before the end of December by playing casually).

That was more or less my response to Devil. As for Fiel's post, I hope that they do implement all of those.

[Dystopiq]

Nexon will only "expand" Maplestory now if they can make good money out of it, 2x exp / cubing was only the first step...

Big Bang was only made to enable Nexon to create a totally new economy, and get rid of all the old shiet players like me worked on for years... all my equips are worthless and near useless now...

I can see them making tokens to do more then 1 bossrun per day for farming epic items in the (near?) future... items with uber good stats, and which are untradable (to keep them reaching the market for nx-less players, to keep their damage nerfed).

This is why Maplestory is going to fail really hard in the future for casual gamers. Lately Maple is already way too dependent on large investments from addicted players.

Normal players who only spend like 30~60 dollars in total on a game (like any other pay to play game) are gonna be kicked so hard away from the fun from maple (you have to pay a lot more for more fun). Also, they will quit sooner now, and there will be a lot of new players that will stop with Maple on their lvl120 Cygnus, because they've seen Maple already, and don't plan to invest 1000+ dollars or more to "compete" with the nx whores / hackers and pay another 500 dollars on 2x exp cards 'n stuff to get to lvl200 on their new adventurer...

Maplestory's future isn't that bright if you ask me, it's either pay -hard- cash and compete with the other nx whores, or don't, but do totally crap damage compared to the addicts with their 500% equips...

Maplestory from years ago (when it started), was -way- more casual gamer friendly, because then everyone could compete with each other, regardless NX "investments".

In the end there will be only hackers and nx whores competing for most damage, and then, after some time, nexon will bring it all down, to start another game where the nx whores and hackers will compete again...

Sadly, the old innocent friendly days are gone for good... Nexon broke their promise that NX would never influence gameplay... And don't expect them to nerf the NX Children Casino effect on gameplay, it's a goldmine for 8~14 year old addicts who go shopping with their parents credit cards to gain respect from other nx-addicts... It's their new business model, legal or not... it earns hard cash...

You took the words straight out of my mouth. I mean, literally straight out of me. This is basically what I see MS turning into. MS is becoming Rome, and it's only a matter of time before it falls.

[Herborist]

I tI think that Devil is being entirely too pessimistic and that Maple's future is a lot brighter than he thinks.

DFO is financial success, and the game entirely wants you to hit the level cap and start over. There's nothing wrong with encouraging players to make multiple characters because leveling is so easy.

And who cares about items anyway? This isn't v0.5 where everyone either goes to gobis or doesn't train. All of the new spots opening up with big bang are going to make item whoring far less possible. Go ahead and do more damage, why should that bother me?

Playing Maplestory made playing DFO hard for me because in DFO your damage is entirely irrelevant (in PvE). I believe that Maplestory is moving toward a similar system by making better items more easily attained for casual players visa vis-a-vis the potential system.

Honestly, Devil's entire post shows little to no insight into the game's mechanics and reveals more about his pessimistic nature than anything else.

[Seanny]

If you lived for damage, Devil's point of view is somewhat correct.

However we have to look at existing evidence: untradable equips for example, most untradables are actually stronger than relative equips but are usually rewards for making hands on effort to earn them; such as Chaos Zhelm or Chaos HTP. If anything, surviving a run to grab one isn't exactly NX given. The only time NX plays into it is using the Scissors to BYPASS that 'you must play' rule.

As for the potential system: isn't it possible to make % equips drops from monsters without even needing to cube for it? Of course, Miracle cubes are indeed a fast forward process compared to just farming the same equips manually. But NX has always been a fast forward button for the game. From 2x exp cards to get exp faster, to Gacha to secure mesos faster and thusly better gear, to Scissors of Karma to get things your characters can't survive.

NX = Fast Forward. Is it unfair? Yes but... as far as killing things for casuals, its not the case. As a true casual player isn't going to be competitive. now F2P competitive players will end up dead last however as they'll never progess as quickly as cash players can,is it possible? Yes but a F2P player will have to work twice, no, possible thrice as hard as a gacha spammer... but eventually there's a cap, and both F2P gear hunters and NX ones will hit it eventually.

The only true disadvantage i see are these gacha only shoulder equips and face equips.

Heck, for casuals, the potential system actually boosted them up too! I tried out a brawler: From potential equips + the Dex from my class hat, i was able to make it to lv 60 with 30 dex cap without spending RL money to scroll up equips. I was never able to go low stat so early on; and this kind of runs contrary to the whole 'its ruining casuals' thing.

[Herborist]

If you lived for damage, Devil's point of view is somewhat correct.

However we have to look at existing evidence: untradable equips for example, most untradables are actually stronger than relative equips but are usually rewards for making hands on effort to earn them; such as Chaos Zhelm or Chaos HTP. If anything, surviving a run to grab one isn't exactly NX given. The only time NX plays into it is using the Scissors to BYPASS that 'you must play' rule.

As for the potential system: isn't it possible to make % equips drops from monsters without even needing to cube for it? Of course, Miracle cubes are indeed a fast forward process compared to just farming the same equips manually. But NX has always been a fast forward button for the game. From 2x exp cards to get exp faster, to Gacha to secure mesos faster and thusly better gear, to Scissors of Karma to get things your characters can't survive.

NX = Fast Forward. Is it unfair? Yes but... as far as killing things for casuals, its not the case. As a true casual player isn't going to be competitive. now F2P competitive players will end up dead last however as they'll never progess as quickly as cash players can, but eventually there's a cap, and both F2P gear hunters and NX ones will hit it.

The only true disadvantage i see are these gacha only shoulder equips and face equips.

Heck, for casuals, the potential system actually boosted them up too! I tried out a brawler: From potential equips + the Dex from my class hat, i was able to make it to lv 60 with 30 dex cap without spending RL money to scroll up equips. This kind of runs contrary to the whole 'its ruining casuals' thing.

I started a new character in Mardia ealier this year because I was tired of Scania. Not only did potential gear made it easier, but I had no issues whatsoever finding several pieces of useful gear with great potentials (+% luk, +% hp). Now that BB is coming, I'll finally be able to train casually and still make good progress.

Why is it so hard for casual players? Sure, I do less damage, but with BB coming I'll still train plenty fast. Is anyone really worried about not getting into boss runs anymore? All of the bosses in the game worth doing are now down to a sceince; people get in, kill it, grab the loot, and get out. So many people are doing runs successfully of all sorts of monsters (D/C hackers not withstanding) that no one should have any issues with finding a guild/group to run with.

I think that people who play on the most crowded servers need to migrate to a less congested realm and then tell me what their opinions are. I'm not interested in any Scania player's opinion - I know everyone there thinks the game is going to hell because the entire server is like a Chinese shopping mall.

[Kevin645]

I read your previous ideas
Adding on to the monster book
Maplestory is all about the tools given to you to create your character.
Monsterbook- Everything of the monster stats and mob drops should be given and easy to figure for the newcomers but the monster cards should have % increase in Exp when you train at that map
Questbook- Maplestory should have a story line from the oldest quests to the newest. Each area on MS should have its own creation and story....
Victoria Island Story- The place where it all began, when we all started as the new comers of the Maple World. We helped the towns in there dilemma's as good citizens of the Maple world. We eventually learned the history of how Victoria Island was created. ( At this point, there should be cliff hangers and empty spots of the story that are filled in by doing the other Town Stories.)
The stories should be put into another Tab in the quest book after completion. So If I was to complete a Quest the NPC gives a small explantion and that is stored into the another Tab and eventually the story book is complete.
The questbook should ascend to area's have higher levels. SO Victoria Island>Ludi/orbis> Ludi/orbis>Omega sector/KFT etc....

[Alilatias]

- Revamp of ALL ITEMS: Yeah, this one is going to suck, but it's something they have to do. Seriously... 5 ACC from an overall? That'd be a big deal in pre-BB days, but the system is now antiquated. They're going to have to increase ACC, MHP (+100 HP from pig headband is now lol). Of course, this is going to make a lot of people angry, but it simply must be done. The current base stats on items are too weak.

- Revamp of Maker: The stats here are too weak considering the investment put in and the comparative benefit of scrolls.

Personally, I see revamp of all items and Maker as the next step. Like you said, people are going to be upset, but it's better to fix it now than continue onwards with a broken and outdated system.

For a while, I was wondering why Lionheart Castle equips were level 120 even though they could have easily made them 125 or even 130 equips. Probably weak reasoning, but perhaps Nexon Korea doesn't want to go ahead with creating Level 121+ gear until they revamp equip stats, to avoid ticking off higher level players who are looking to potential 121+ equips beforehand.

As for set bonuses... It's a lot of work, but I also see Nexon possibly implementing set bonuses for class equipment as well. Compare Lionheart Castle equips to Reverse/Timeless equips. The only advantages that Reverse/Timeless equips have over LHC equips is that they can level up (the important part being pushing of skills past the usual skill cap) and that you can Maker them (which won't matter as much until Maker gets revamped much like scrolls did). Otherwise, LHC equips are superior in the fact that you can actually still trade them after equipping them (provided that you have a PSoK), they already have a set bonus associated with them, and they'd probably be easier for future Maplers to obtain on the basis of Time Temple mobs dropping PoTs being pushed far ahead into the 150+ range.

[octopusprime]

I don't thinkso, maybe they'll make those scrols incredibly rare, or, if they add that kind of feature to the maker system, however, it'll be incredibly hard to get the necesary materials to make such an item... a lot of games have that kind of option...and those games make some kind of profit with that, by adding some kind of bonus probability if you use a purchased item... maybe they'll try something like that once the cashcow of the cubes runs dry...

All they have to do to renew the cow is realease better equips.

[Kire]

I tI think that Devil is being entirely too pessimistic and that Maple's future is a lot brighter than he thinks.

DFO is financial success, and the game entirely wants you to hit the level cap and start over. There's nothing wrong with encouraging players to make multiple characters because leveling is so easy.

And who cares about items anyway? This isn't v0.5 where everyone either goes to gobis or doesn't train. All of the new spots opening up with big bang are going to make item whoring far less possible. Go ahead and do more damage, why should that bother me?

Playing Maplestory made playing DFO hard for me because in DFO your damage is entirely irrelevant (in PvE). I believe that Maplestory is moving toward a similar system by making better items more easily attained for casual players visa vis-a-vis the potential system.

Honestly, Devil's entire post shows little to no insight into the game's mechanics and reveals more about his pessimistic nature than anything else.

I agree with you, IMO this "Maple is going to hell" is overreacting, I'm beggining the game again from scratch in scania (charity is welcome): no friends no guildmates, no nx... an I'm still having fun... unlike most mmorpg's, maple doesn't have a pvp system, so there's no real reason to be so obsesed with dmg...no one will kill you if you don't have godly equips, no one will stop you from reaching a certain area, and if your class works as a decen't attacker, you'll eventually be able to beat any solo boss... correct me if I'm wrong, but I've never seen a player with a decent level being rejected from a bossrun with the excuse of "having too low dmg"... I know, usually, players with better stats party together in a bossrun, but it is because it's more eficient... however, ppl adds dk's because of the hb, bm's for the se, bishops for the suport... damage is not everything... besides, nx is not giving you superpowers, if you buy items with nx using the mts, you're passing that nx to someone else who can use it to buy equips too... I agree with the point that nx is a fast track for leveling, however, everybody can get the same kind of equips (and damage), given enough time... maybe that's why I became a cleric in the first place (long before the fourth job), I didn't want to joint the "ur dm socks u nub" bandwagon